About the Author

Rebecca Kuder's essays and stories have appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books; Hags on Fire; Bayou Magazine; Shadows and Tall Trees; Lunch Ticket; Year's Best Weird Fiction vols. 3 & 5; The Rumpus; and Crooked Houses. She received an individual artist excellence award from the Ohio Arts Council, and an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles. Rebecca lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with the writer Robert Freeman Wexler and their child. This is her first novel.

Reviews

At the opening of Kuder's first novel, an injured and amnesiac young woman is found after a tornado sweeps through the area. Mim is immediately adopted and named by the carnival's curious inhabitants. She discovers a paranormal element to the carnival, between odd creatures and a fortune-teller who can actually see people's futures, and finds that she experiences people's memories as they're remembering them. Mim's adventure in mental, emotional, and sexual self-discovery, along with her special ability, sets her squarely between the carnival boss and a man working at the "death pill factory," the carnies' term for the weapons factory across the river. There is a hidden depth to each character, experienced as Mim delves into their memories, providing more than is usually available from a single character's perspective. The surprising plot twists are accented by vividly descriptive, whimsical writing, where everything from the people to the carnival's strange animals and even the inanimate objects have memories and feelings, all seen through Mim's exploratory and introspective gaze. This is a fabulously creative story with just a touch of the paranormal that keeps readers guessing. - Frances Moritz, Booklist, September 15, 2021